A PROMISE OF BEING TOGETHER
by Kriya98
Summary: AU."I wish that I had someone with whom I can be honest without being judged, vulnerable without being termed weak, someone who will always have my back",said James wishfully. "I promise to be that person to you James. This is a promise of being together", Lily assured James. Follow James' journey in reaching his destiny.AU (Ravencalw Lily)
1. chapter 1

James Potter sighed laying on his four poster. He was finally Hogwarts, his home ,which he considered his home rather than the mansion where his parents lived.He had just come back from the Christmas break and finally escaped all the nagging that he had to go through.True, he was born with a silver spoon. He was the sole heir to the Potter fortune and was spoilt rotten by his parents who gave him anything that he wished for. But it was all materialistic. What he wished for was freedom. Being the sole heir to the entire Potter fortune , he was constantly judged. Unfortunately, his parents were the ones for apperances and they greatly valued what others thought about them.James was constantly forced to play a role of an ideal son who took his responsibilities seriously.Yes, he did want to become a man who his parents could be proud of. That did not mean that he wanted to follow their exact foot steps and become a bureaucrat. His mother was the ex minister of magic and his father had been the head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement. James wanted to become a professional Quidditch player. He was one of the exceptional chasers of his time, according to McGonagall anyway. When he told his parents about his career choice they brushed it off as a teenage fantasy.His opinions were never given any importance and he had no say in his life. That was why his house suffocated him. Events that took place during the break got on his nerves more than usual. His parents dropped the bomb he was to be betrothed to Hestia Jones, a pure blood witch. She was a Hufflepuff sixth year. To be honest James was not suprised. He always knew that he was expected to marry a pureblood witch and keep up his family reputation. But the fact that he had no say in even choosing his life partner ticked him off and he left his parents place immediately. He reached Hogwarts by Knight bus. James had not once sopken to the girl and he was now expected to court her until the summer break when the betrothal ceremony would take place.He could only hope that his parents chose the right girl for him.His parents always said that they wanted the best for him. What they didn't realize is that what they thought was the best was not what James wanted.

Hogwarts was his escape. It was where he was not judged, he did not have to worry about dissapointing his parents and most importantly he had his friends here. The Marauders as they called themselves were notorious for pranking people and making Hogwarts' atmosphere lively.The Marauders consisted of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and him. They saw him as James not as a Potter. They saw him as a boy who liked collecting chocolate frog cards,who hates History of Magic with passion and some one who hopes to be brave enough to follow his heart some day.When James came to know about the stories of the other boys he decided that he definitely had a better life.

James met Sirius on the Hogwarts express and they have been inseparabale since then. Sirius came from a long line of dark witches and wizards, the most ancient and noble house of Black.He was abused at his home for not agreeing with their pure blood supremacistic ideals and not supporting muggle baiting. He was the first Gryffindor from his family in centuries.He ran away from his house in summer before 6th year and went to James' place. James' parents took him in quite happily saying that they always wanted more children. Even though James' family was quite proud of being pure blood and wished to maintain their blood line , they under no circumstances supported muggle baiting and dark magic.Sirius did not go with James to Potter mansion because Remus was staying back at Hogwarts and did not want Remus to be alone.

Remus Lupin was a were wolf.In wizarding community were wolves were frowned upon and discriminated very harshly.They discovered his secret in their second year.To Remus' suprise he was not given any disgusting looks that he was used to.Instead they were determined to help him. They decided to become animagi to control his wolf.All this was very over whelming for Remus especially when his own family did not want anything to do with him. If it were not for Dumbledore, he wouldn't have even been able to attend Hogwarts.In their fifth year the succeded in becoming animagi. James was a stag, Sirius a giant dog and Peter a rat.Hence they had Moony, Prongs,Padfoot and Wormtail as their nick names signifying their animal parts.

Peter's father was a muggle.He left Peter and his mother when he found out that they were magical. Peter's mother worked very hard to make their ends meet.Peter only had one dream-To give his mother a comfortable life.Though Peter was not very magically talented, the rest of the marauders made sure that he managed to scrape enough grades that a ministry job usually required by tutoring him.

To the marauders Hogwarts was their home, where they were truly happy, where they had each other, where they had family...

James was broken from his train of thoughts when he heard the door opening.He looked and saw Remus entering the dorm.

"Hey Prongs!What are doing here this early? The break ends after 2 days", Remus asked.

"Hey Moony…I'll tell you and Padfoot together. I presume Wormy isn't here yet. We can fill him in when he comes.Where is Padfoot by the way?" ,James said.

"Padfoot went to kitchen saying that he was hungry.He should be here shortly" ,Remus said going through his pile of books and taking a parchment from the pile.

" I have to meet Lily at the library. I'll be back shortly",he said and started going towards the door.

"Wait Moony! I'll come with you.I don't have anything better to do any way.",James said getting up from his four poster.

"So,who is this Lily?",asked James wiggling his eye brows suggestively

Remus rolled his eyes and said ,"Lily Evans, the fifth year Ravenclaw prefect,she's my patrol partner"

"What?But she belongs to another house and she's in the year below us",asked James confusedly.

Remus sighed and said,"Yeah,all part of Dumbledore's new proposal to promote unity among the houses"

"And you are giving her the patrol schedule because…"

"She did not attend the prefect meeting"

"Why?"

"No idea Prongs"

Then they continued to walk for some time and spotted a girl standing at the entrance of the library.James' breath got caught in his throat when he saw the girl. Standing there was a girl with dark red hair. It was not her hair that caught his attention, but those striking pair of almond shaped emerald eyes.As hd went closer to her he observed tiny freckles scattered across her nose.James felt like he could spend eternity watching her angelic face and he no idea who he was having such feelings for a girl who he had seen for the first time.

When she saw them she gave Remus a light smile and started walking towards them.She stopped near them ,"Thanks Remus.I owe you one" she said taking her copy of patrol schedule.

"Won't yoh introduce me to the lovely lady over here Remus?" James said trying to catch Lily's attention.

Remus eyed him wierdly wondering if he was alright.James never cared about anyone other than the marauders and never bothered to know other people personally. Before he could speak James forwarded his hand and said,"James Potter, nice to meet you"

"Lily Evans.Like wise",she said shaking his hand and turned to Remus,"Thanks again Remus. I've got to go now", she said and started going in the direction of Ravenclaw tower.

James stared at her retreating back with a small smile across his face thinking of the ways to know Lily Evans better.


	2. Chapter 2

In all the years that James had known Remus, he envied him for the first time. He envied him because he got to spend time with Lily and talk to her. What wouldn't he give to trade places with Remus? If only he had been more respectful towards the authority figures and toned down his rebellious attitude he would have been a perfect. He cursed the moment he said that he'd rather spend his time reading History of Magic than be a prefect. Karma got him. BAD. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize when he reached his dorm until Sirius engulfed him in a bear hug.

"Oh Prongsy! I was worried for a moment thinking that the map was lying. You really are here. What did Mama P and Papa P do to get you so pissed off that you couldn't wait until the break completed to get away from there?"

It was then James remembered Hestia, his to be betrothed and he felt like he was hit with thunder. How could he get betrothed to her if he was insanely attracted to a particular Ravenclaw prefect.

"Prongs, you there?" Remus asked shaking his hand in front of James.

"Yeah, was just lost in my thoughts"

"So what got you so upset?"

James then proceeded to tell them the whole Hestia episode.

"Sucks to be you Prongs", said Sirius

"Way to make me feel better Padfoot", James said rolling his eyes.

"I speak the truth",Sirius said with fake seriousness.

"Well Prongs, look at this way, what if Hestia is the one for you? Just give her a fair chance mate, before you draw conclusions", Remus said trying to be optimistic.

"I'll try Moony", James said. But deep down James knew that Hestia was not the girl for him. Idea of Hestia and him did not settle with him before, after meeting Lily the thought just repulsed him.

He didn't want to tell them about his new found feelings towards Lily. He just wanted to make sure that it wasn't some infatuation that would face away after a week. But considering the depth of his feelings he doubted it. Never the less he wanted to be sure.

He was bewildered as to why he was harboring such strong feelings towards a girl with whom he had barely exchanged a word. Embracing those feelings made him happy, and James Potter wanted to be happy more than anything in this world.

Silence filled the dorm until James broke it.

"What happened while I was away? I want each and every detail"

Sirius and Remus turned to face each other, their expressions serious as if aking the other one to break the news.

James was very unsettled with the awkward situation.

"What?"asked James asked cautiously.

"Peter's father returned", Sirius said suddenly.

James sat there shocked for a minute until he could finally process the words.

"What, why, when, how………", James spoke incoherently.

"Prongs take a deep breathe. One question at a time Prongs", Remus said.

"How did you know? Wormtail is not even here yet"

"We snuck off to Hogsmede the other day. We saw his mother at The Three Broomsticks. She was in a deep conversation with a man. Moony and I decided to eavesdrop. We found that the man was Wormtail's father and that he was back for good" ,Sirius said.

"How do you think Peter is taking the news?" James asked

"No idea. He wasn't there. We don't even know if he is aware of his father's arrival. It is not our place to tell him. It would be better if his mother breaks the news", Remus said.

James nodded in understanding.

"We can only wish for Peter's happiness now. He's been through a lot'', James said.

The other two silently agreed with him.

"Dumbledore's gone bonkers", Sirius stated suddenly after a while.

"Why do you say that?"James asked with a amused look on his face.

"You know Moony had to stay back during the break as Dumbledore asked prefects and heads to stay back. He got this ridiculous idea of pairing prefects from different houses and years together to promote unity anong the houses. Why did he need to do that? People were happy being paired with persons from their own house. The old man has gone crazy I tell you",Sirius grumbled.

But James thought different. He had Dumbledore to thank for. If it were not for him, he would have never met Lily.

"Shut it Padfoot! You are just upset that Marlene's partner is Robert Davies." , Remus said.

James snickered when he heard that. It was no secret among the marauders that Sirius fancied Marlene. He just wasn't bold enough to confess his feelings. But that didn't mean that he didn't get jealous when he saw Marlene with the other guys. Those poor boys were usually the victims of Marauder's pranks.

"Not every one is as lucky as you Moony. You got yourself a pretty Ravenclaw", Sirius teasingly said.

"Lily is good. She's a nice person to work with. I did get lucky", Remus said with a small smile.

A frown made its way across James face as he observed Remus. He had a sudden urge to punch Remus across his face. James couldn't believe that he was being jealous. He was never the jealous type.

James realized with a jolt that there might be many boys in the castle who would like to get together with Lily. For all he knew she might already have a boy friend. James needed to act fast.

That was how James spent the last two days of the break, trying to get information about Lily. He was a marauder after all. He could easily get the information he needed.

So far he found out that she was best friends with Alice Carter. She shared her dorm with Alice Carter, Olivia Swan and Rose Harris.She usually got top grades in her tests.

She dated Joshua Brown, a 5th year Hufflepuff, for about two months in the beginning of the year. Apparently he was her first boy friend. The thought of Lily with the other boys unsettled him. But he couldn't be a hypocrite. He had had two girlfriends in the past. It was nothing serious. Those relationships didn't last more than two weeks. It just didn't feel right when he was with them. He could only be grateful that she was currently single.

Lily Evans was a muggle born. His parents would never approve of his relationship with Lily, if he ever got into a relationship with her. Even if James' parents were against the torture of muggles, they were proud pure bloods and they wished to maintain their blood line. That wouldn't even approve if the girl was a half blood, forget being a muggle born. Adding Hestia to the equation only complicated the situation.

How ever James couldn't care less. He desperately wanted to get to know Lily Evans and he would do that.


End file.
